How ACA Repeal Would Hurt Farmers and Rural Communities

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BY DEBBIE WEINGARTEN | HEALTH, Young Farmers Unite
05.04.17
In the spring of 2015, Kathryn Skelley-Watts took a break from planting crops at Aardvark Farm, the 12-acre organic operation that she owns with her partner, to take a run through the woods. That night, she found a tick lodged in her calf muscle. The next day, a rash began appearing on her neck. Two weeks later, the rash covered half of her body, she had a high fever, and she could barely move. A diagnosis of Lyme disease led to a twi-month round of antibiotics and steroids.

Aardvark Farm crawled to a near stop as Skelley-Watts and her partner Rett Murphy fought the disease. When the antibiotics failed to stop the infection, Skelley-Watts rotated between doctors and specialists. She was prescribed more medication, underwent a litany of tests, and received additional companion diagnoses. On her blog, Skelley-Watts wrote, “I’m fortunate to have caught Lyme disease when I did. I was no longer broke and uninsured.” If it weren’t for insurance, one of the drugs she relies on, would cost around $1,300 for a 10-day supply.

Five years earlier, when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law, Skelley-Watts had been quick to sign up. Before that, she hadn’t qualified for health insurance due to a pre-existing digestive condition. Like many farmers, Skelley-Watts is waiting with bated breath to see whether her coverage will continue.

Today, nearly 20 million Americans receive health insurance under the ACA. But as the Republicans in Congress frantically work to repeal-and-replace the act, the future of that coverage is in question. The first replacement plan—the American Health Care Act (AHCA)—was opposed by 56 percent of voters. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that while AHCA would have reduced the budget deficit by $337 billion by 2026, 24 million Americans would have lost their health insurance.

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http://civileats.com/2017/05/04/how-aca-repeal-would-hurt-farmers-and-rural-communities/

[Docreed2003]

1. Sadly these stories will be all too common if they succeed in repealing the ACA...

Many rural hospitals were saved by the ACA provisions. One such hospital is a small rural community hospital that I see patients at a few times a month for surgery coverage. That hospital will surely close and those patient in the outlying areas will be forced to travel an hour or more for emergency care. The GOP doesn't care about that, hell one NC state senator suggested people should just move if they wanted better care. People will suffer and die from this and I don't think the GOP cares.